Assessment of Disaster Management System Vulnerability during Critical Conditions in Iranian Red Crescent Hospital in Hajj in Mecca

There is the possibility of the occurrence of natural disasters such as floods and unusual events because of gatherings of people and fire during the Hajj. For this reason, hospital is a place which is vulnerable to disaster and should response to it. Therefore, hospital preparedness in disaster can help effectively to reduce the losses. The purpose of this study is to assess the vulnerability of hospital management system in disaster response in Mecca.

In this cross-sectional study, the standard checklist of PAHO / WHO was used in order to assess the vulnerability of hospital. This checklist evaluated the vulnerability of disaster management system in hospital in managerial, non-structural and structural dimensions in 2011.

Totally, the hospital conditions were in an average safety level in disaster in the structural dimensions (13), non-structural (86), and managerial aspects (54).

The results showed that some measures should be taken in order to reduce the vulnerability regarding the average vulnerability of disaster management system in hospital. However, decision making in this hospital was based on its conditions.